6. ENGINEERING-CIVIL AND MECHANICAL.

THE winter season is not generally the busiest time amongst members of the engineering profession; works already commenced are, of course, not permitted to remain at a standstill, but few new works are commenced until the spring. Mechanical engineers generally are now beginning to get more busy, after rather a long period of stagnation; locomotive engineers especially have plenty of work before them, and others are perhaps more or less occupied in connection with the forthcoming Paris Exhibition.

The bills before Parliament do not exhibit any very great activity on the part of engineers, there being only ninety-six for railways, whereof sixty-one are for new lines, few of which are of any great length; and eighty-three for miscellaneous works.

Amongst the many important railway works at present in progress, may be mentioned the Great Eastern Metropolitan Extension, and the East London Railways, between Mile End Old Town and Liverpool Street. Between these points, the two lines will follow the same course, only at different levels; the East London being below the surface of the ground, and the Great Eastern above it, thus necessitating the construction of a combined viaduct and covered way. The former line will also make use of the Thames Tunnel, and will serve a very important purpose in connecting the lines north and south of the Thames to the East of London Bridge. Four-fifths of the length of the Metropolitan and St. John's Wood line has now been completed, and it is expected that it will be opened early in the autumn of the present year. One of the bills before Parliament is for the reintroduction of omnibus railways into London; there can be no doubt that such an addition to the present means of communication would be most acceptable, but whether it will prove more successful than the similar attempt made a few years back by Mr. Train, remains to be proved. In Liverpool also, an effort, supported by the Town Council, is being made in the same direction.

The works on the Great Northern Railway, between Doncaster and Gainsborough, were expected to have been completed by the 1st March; on the opening of this line the whole of the coal traffic between Doncaster and London will pass over it via Lincoln and Peterborough. The Stonehouse and Nailsworth branch of the Midland Railway was opened in February last. The opening of the Salisbury and Dorset Railway took place on the 27th December; and the extension to connect the Neath and Brecon line with the Brecon

and Merthyr system has been completed; thus opening a new route from Swansea, Llanelly, and the western districts of South Wales to North Wales, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Manchester, &c.

With reference to Railways abroad, we notice that the line over Mont Cenis is rapidly approaching completion; and it is expected that the section between Modane and Susa will be opened by May next, and that the whole will be completed by the following July. Several lines of railway in and about Paris have recently been completed, and others are in contemplation in connection with the Chemin de Fer du Ceinture. In Prussia, the construction of railways from Harburg, opposite Hamburg, to Stade and Cuxhaven, and from Nordhausen, in Central Germany, to Erfurt, have been commenced. In Russia, much has already been done, and out of 3,235 miles sanctioned, 2,570 are open to the public. There is the Trunk line of 400 miles, from St. Petersburg to Moscow; the St. Petersburg and Warsaw line of about 800 miles, with a branch to the Prussian frontier; several short branch lines from St. Petersburg, and the line from Warsaw to the Austrian frontier, about 446 miles. Southwards, there is a line from Odessa to Balta, with a branch to Tiraspol to the west. About ninety miles of line are being made in the valleys of the Volga and the Don. Lines will radiate from Moscow to Nijni Novgorod, to Serguicosk, to Riasan and Koslof. About 630 miles are being made from Orel, via Smolensk and Uitepsk, to Dunaburg, which will give those towns direct communication with the Baltic at Riga. The further extensions contemplated will complete the through communication between the Baltic provinces and the south, including the parts of the Black Sea, the Sea of Asof, and the Caspian Sea. The lines recently opened in Italy, consist of that connecting Pavia, Cremona, and Brescia; and the line between Catania and Messina. Passengers can now go from Florence to Rome in twelve hours by way of Perugia, the line between Arezzo and Foligno being now completed. The month of January last witnessed the opening of a railway section from Pasewolk to the frontier of Mecklenburg; the completion of this link is of the greatest importance to Stettin, as the Pomeranian network of lines will now be united to a vast district, comprising the whole territory of Mecklenburg, Schleswig, Lauenburg, the Hanse Towns, and a great part of Hanover. The Estramadura Railway, also recently opened, establishes an uninterrupted communication between Lisbon and St. Petersburg, by means of a line of rails 3,940 miles in length, which, starting from the north of the Tagus, terminates for the present at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka, at Nijni Novgorod, passing through Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and Warsaw. In India, several short but important sections of railway have recently been completed. The first train ran into Delhi on the morning of the

24th October last. A sufficient number of detached portions of railway are now open to admit of the journey from Calcutta to Bombay being performed in about four days. Forty years ago the United States had but three miles of railroad in operation; but they now have 35,341 miles open, and 15,943 miles under construction. The United States Congress, in order to aid the establishment of the South Pacific Railroad, has granted that undertaking 25,000 acres of land per mile; the distance between New York and San Francisco by this route will be 3,200 miles. Advices from Brazil state that the San Paulo Railway was expected to be opened on the 1st January last; and that a prospectus has been issued of the Paraguassu Steam Tramroad Company, for the construction of a train line of 250 miles, from the city of Bahia to the city of Lençoes, near the diamond-mines, with which there is already a steady traffic.

Amongst harbour and dock works we may notice, in the first place, the extensive additions now in progress to the Government docks at Chatham, on a tract of marsh land known by the name of St. Mary's Island. For some time past the admiralty have been carrying on some very important works, with a view of reclaiming St. Mary's Island; but in addition to the mere work of reclamation, the scheme includes the construction of a series of extensive docks and workshops, all of which are estimated to cost about one-and-ahalf million sterling. The Millwall Docks, now in course of construction on the Isle of Dogs, will, it is expected, be finished and open for shipping by the end of next autumn. There will be two

docks, the one of 25 acres, and the other 10 acres in extent; the depth of water in each basin will be about 29 feet and the entrance locks will be 80 feet wide. A large graving-dock, 402 feet long by 86 feet wide, is also being constructed as an adjunct to the other works. On the 1st January the contractors commenced the great works for the extension of Portsmouth Dockyard, the estimated cost of which is 1,500,0007. Up to the present time Glasgow has been without any dock accommodation, or tidal basin; and although the wharfing is extended on either side of the river for a great distance, it is inadequate to the demands upon it. A tidal basin is now in course of construction there, which will be completed in a few months; and the commencement of another basin is contemplated soon after the completion of that now in progress. New works are under construction on either side of the river at Belfast; those on the County Down side consist of a large open tidal basin and a capacious graving dock; and those on the County Antrim side consist of a floating dock, 630 feet long by 225 feet wide, and a tidal dock 600 feet long by 550 wide. The entrance to the former is 60 feet, and to the tidal dock 80 feet in width. The cost of the entire works will be 150,000l. A new port has not long since been established in the Bristol Channel, at

Port Cawl, in Glamorganshire, which will be of immense value to the ironmasters and coal lessees of South Wales. The new works recently constructed here consist of an inner floating dock of 71 acres, with quay walls of massive masonry. The depth of water in the entrance basin and on the sill of the dock is 29 feet, at spring tides. In addition to the docks there is also an extensive wharf frontage, high level shipping stages, and other conveniences. Active operations are in progress for constructing docks and a pier at the Cape of Good Hope; the principal basin has to be mined in rock, and the débris has been carried away by locomotives to the extremity of a breakwater, which has now a length of nearly 1,700 feet. The Pasha of Egypt has ordered, in France, a great iron floating-dock for service in the Port of Alexandria. Harbour works are also in contemplation at St. Helier's, Jersey. It is proposed to construct docks and warehouses, and to form a spacious harbour on the Danube, and to establish a port to the north of Elsinore, in Denmark.

Several proposals have recently been put forward, for the purpose of facilitating the means of communication across the British Channel. Amongst others, Mr. James Chalmers has introduced a modification of his well-known scheme for a railway beneath the Channel, to be conducted through a double row of iron pipes, lined with brick, and submerged. Other more probable schemes have been suggested by Mr. Fowler and Mr. Daft, for the establishment of ferry-boats which shall convey a railway train entire - passengers and all-without necessitating any change of carriages.

From the report of the Manchester Boiler Association it appears that boiler explosions are steadily increasing in number and fatality. During the year 1866 there were 73 explosions in various parts of the United Kingdom, attended with a loss of 87 lives, and with injuries to 110 others. Amongst other recent inventions for the removal of boiler scale, the most remarkable is that known as the magnetic anti-incrustator. It consists of seven small magnets made of steel wire, tapering to a point at one end, and inserted radially at the other into a brass centre; this is supported horizontally in the steam space, a few inches below the roof of the boiler near one end, by a brass stud, from which it is insulated. A copper wire connects the system of magnets with the opposite end of the boiler; a current of induced electricity is thus effected, which results in the complete detachment of scale from the boiler. A new kind of boiler, called the water-tube boiler, has lately been invented both in this country and in France; its peculiarity consists in the water being contained in tubes, amongst which the flames from the fire circulate, being very nearly the opposite to the plan formerly more generally adopted. Experiments are still being carried out, with a view to the use of petroleum as fuel; but more must yet be accomplished before it can be said to have proved successful.

It is proposed to convert all the existing 32-pounder guns in the service into 64-pounders, upon Major Palliser's principle. It is reported that the converted Sneider rifles have not given satisfaction, owing to the imperfect style of workmanship in their conversion. There have recently been extensive trials of breech-loading guns, both in Vienna and in America, with a view to obtaining the best pattern gun; and similar trials will shortly take place in this country. An English gunmaker has just contracted with the French government for the manufacture of a considerable number of the Chassepot gun, and the Whitworth Company are making upwards of 200 lathes for a private firm in Paris, who have contracted to convert a large number of French rifles upon the same system.

The Mont Cenis tunnel has, during the past year, been extended 1,139 yards, making the aggregate distance pierced 7,083 yards; the total distance remaining to be pierced is 6,493 yards.

The fresh-water canal portion of the Suez Canal is now navigable; on 11th February a vessel from Siam, containing packages for the Paris Exhibition, took that route; and on 17th February a vessel of 80 tons, from Trieste, arrived in the Red Sea, having passed through Egypt by the Suez Canal.

The first locomotive made in New South Wales was tested on 15th November last on the branch line between the Redfern Railway Station and Pyrmont. It is upwards of 70-horse power, and is to be employed on the steep inclines or zigzags on the Great Western Railway.

Very considerable works for the reclamation of land in Switzerland have been determined on in the neighbourhood of the Lakes of Morat, Neuchâtel, and Bienne. The total cost will be about 300,0007., and the value of the lands will be increased 626,3827. ; the total extent to be reclaimed amounts to nearly 50,000 acres.

Mr. James Parker, a gentleman residing near London, has lately introduced a system of working engines by mixed steam and air, which he applied to the propulsion of a small road locomotive some time ago, and more recently for propelling a small vessel on the Thames. The results of these experiments were very satisfactory, and the subject has recently attracted no little attention.

Amongst the numerous treatises which come before the public every year, none perhaps aim at higher ends, or achieve more general good than those which treat science in a popular manner, without making scientific truths too subservient to the popular tastes. In the category of such works may be included the three series of "Useful Information for Engineers," which have lately emanated from the pen of Mr. William Fairbairn. The third series of this very useful little work has but recently seen the light; it consists of a reprint of six lectures, some of which have been published and